马龙探案卷五 之 盛怒的审判七

黑暗中，河流变成了银灰色。马龙若有所思地凝视着它。

THE RIVER had turned silver gray in the darkness. Malone gazed at it reflectively.

“给我讲讲这些人。” 他最后说，“先从尸体开始。”

“Tell me about all these people,” he said at last, “and begin with the corpse.”

汤姆?伯罗斯舒服地坐在他的包装箱上。“已故的参议员杰拉尔德?佩维利于 1878 年出生在杰克逊县的一个农场。1885 年他在米勒溪镇的米勒镇学校上学 ——”

Tom Burrows settled himself fortably on his packing box. “The late Senator Gerald Peveley was born on a farm in Jackson County in 1878. He attended Miller township school at Miller’s Creek from 1885 -”

“别扯那些废话。” 小律师疲倦地说，“说重点。他的家庭、他的事业、他的性格和他的女人。”

“Skip the frills,” the little lawyer said wearily, “and get to the facts. His family, his business, his personality, and his women.”

“还有他的敌人。” 杰克补充道。

“And his enemies,” Jake added.

“他有相当多。” 年轻的新闻记者说。“我是说敌人，不是女人。据我所知，参议员过着无可指摘的生活。当然，在这样的小镇上你可以为所欲为。”

“He had plenty of those,” the young newspaperman said. “Enemies, I mean, not women. From all I ever knew, the Senator led a blameless life. Of course you can get away with plenty in a town like this.”

“我听到的关于小镇的情况可不是这样。” 马龙调皮地说。

“That isn’t the way I heard it about small towns,” Malone said coyly.

杰克哼了一声。“这说明你对小镇一无所知。我十五岁的时候 ——”

Jake snorted. “That shows what you know about it. Why when I was fifteen -”

“别管你的私生活。” 海伦甜甜地说。“你可以写信给多萝西?迪克斯谈谈。继续，汤姆。”

“Never mind your private life,” Helene said sweetly. “You can write to Dorothy Dix about it. Go on, Tom.”

“嗯，” 伯罗斯说，“参议员佩维利是个杰出的公民。在像杰克逊这样的地方，没有哪个前参议员有那么多钱还能不是杰出人物。如果他是个普通人，每个人都会公开地、毫不掩饰地恨他入骨。”

“Well,” Burrows said, “Senator Peveley was a prominent citizen. No ex-Senator, with that much dough, could be anything else in a place like Jackson. If he’d been an ordinary guy, everybody would have openly and admittedly hated his guts.”

“从我看到的他的样子，他可一点都不可爱。” 海伦大胆地说。

“He didn’t look exactly lovable,” Helene ventured, “from what I saw of him.”

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这次是马龙问：“如果他那么不得人心，他到底是怎么当选参议员的？”

This time it was Malone who asked, “If he was so all-fired unpopular, how in the hell did he get elected Senator?”

“这很容易解释。” 汤姆?伯罗斯告诉他。“他在党内很受欢迎。他有很多钱可以捐给竞选活动，而且他出手大方。在整个候选人名单都顺利当选的时候，他被选为县财务主管，然后当他想竞选州财务主管的时候，党把他推了上去。最后他想竞选参议员，党说，‘哦，好吧，为什么不呢’，于是他就当选了。”

“That’s an easy one,” Tom Burrows told him. “He was popular with the party. He had plenty of money to contribute to campaign expenses, and he contributed with a lavish hand. He was elected county treasurer at a time when the whole ticket slid in, and then when he wanted to make it state treasurer, the party pushed him through. Finally he wanted to run for the Senate, and the party said, ‘Oh well, why the hell not,’ and there he was.

“而且，” 他接着说，“他有一定的演讲天赋，也有让自己成为公众英雄的本事。在他退出之前，他对党来说是个真正的财富。”

“Besides,” he went on, “he had a certain gift for oratory and for making a public hero of himself. He was a real asset to the party, until he quit.”

杰克说：“我想最终他只是厌倦了把自己当成一种财富。”

Jake said, “I suppose eventually he just got tired of making an asset of himself.”

“我刚写了一个很棒的白手起家的故事。” 汤姆?伯罗斯说。“从农场男孩到国会大厦，只需十步轻松课程。那全是胡说八道。参议员的老爸去世时留下了六七个农场。”

“I just wrote a swell rags-to-riches story,” Tom Burrows said. “Farm boy to Capitol, in ten easy lessons. It was a lot of baloney. The Senator’s old man left half a dozen farms when he kicked off.”

马龙眨了眨眼。“在我看来这仍然像是白手起家的故事。”

Malone blinked. “It still reads like rags to riches to me.”

“在这个国家，” 新闻记者说，“六七个农场意味着真正的财富。他去世的时候财富大概是那时的十倍，但那是亨利的功劳。亨利有真正的商业头脑。”

“In this country,” the newspaperman said, “half a dozen farms means real dough. He was worth about ten times that when he died, but that was Henry’s doing. Henry had the real business head.”

“对他来说不错。” 马龙说。“谁是亨利？”

“Nice for him,” Malone said. “Who’s Henry?”

“参议员的兄弟。他很不寻常。” 汤姆?伯罗斯停顿了一下。“哦，好吧，你可能会亲自见到他。亨利是个鳏夫，没有孩子。参议员有一个孩子，弗洛伦斯。她和年轻的地方检察官订了婚。”

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“The Senator’s brother. He’s rather unusual.” Tom Burrows paused. “Oh well, you’ll probably meet him yourself. Henry’s a widower, no children. The Senator had one child, Florence. She’s engaged to the young D. A.”

“别给我讲年轻的爱情故事。” 马龙说。“我只想知道参议员被杀的时候法院二楼都有谁。” 他又说，“你可以把这叫做从几乎最底层卷入谋杀案。”

“Spare me the young love interest,” Malone said. “I just want to know who was on the second floor of the courthouse when the Senator got his.” He added, “You can call this getting in on murder on the next-to-the-ground floor.”

“别管我们是怎么卷入的。” 海伦说。“我们怎么脱身呢？”

“Never mind how you get in on it,” Helene said. “How do we get out of it?”

汤姆?伯罗斯再次开口时声音若有所思。“恐怕你得了解一下这个镇的历史。像这样的一个小镇全是暗流涌动。每个人都和其他人有亲戚关系，或者通过出生、教堂、商业关系、仇恨、爱情或者债务和其他人纠缠在一起。就拿今天在法院里的那群人来说吧。”

Tom Burrows’ voice was thoughtful when he spoke again. “You’ll have to take the town history, I’m afraid. A little town like this is all currents and crosscurrents. Everybody is related to everybody else, or entangled with everybody else through birth, church, or business affiliations, hatred, love affairs, or debts. Take that group up in the courthouse today.”

他停下来点了一支烟。“嗯，先从杰瑞?勒克斯通说起。他父亲是老勒克斯通法官，来自勒克斯通和阿普尔伯里事务所。大约十五年前曾是县法官。杰瑞的祖父也曾在这里当过勒克斯通法官。杰瑞是个聪明、讨人喜欢的年轻人，刚从法学院毕业不久。”